Fabio Capello has addressed the problems caused by the injuries to England’s key defenders in aÂ radical and unexpectedÂ way, by calling up lower league defenders Leigh Bromby of Leeds United and Mike Edwards of Notts Countyfor an end of season England training squad. Edwards was recommended to Capello by new Ivory Coast manager Sven-Goran Eriksson whilst Bromby came to his attention after a conversation in a pub car parkÂ with Bryan Robson, the current manager of the Thai national team. Bromby’s defensive qualities plus hisÂ long throw (known as the ‘Brombomb’ to Leeds fans) would no doubt provide ammunition for Peter Crouch.

In other news, Wayne Rooney’s injury isn’t as bad as it might have been: minor ligament damage, which will keep him out of the Manchester United team for the top of the table clash with Chelsea tomorrow. However…Sid Fibreglass is out for the rest of the domestic season after picking up an injury during Arsenal’s dramatic draw against Barcelona in the Champions League on Wednesday and current thinking is that he has a chance of making the Spanish squad for the finals.

It was always bound to be a case of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’; following David Beckham’s metatarsal in 2002Â and Wayne Rooney’s broken foot in 2006,Â Ashley Cole may miss all or part of the World Cup finals with a fractured ankle.

Multiple ironic angles here: the injury was sustained when Cole was tackling Landon Donovan of the USAin Chelsea’s 2-1 defeat to Everton during the week: but now the door is wide open for Wayne Bridge to make an international return…alongside Errol Flynn. Obviously it’sÂ Sr. Capello’s shout from here on in, but this needs to be sorted out as soon as possible, arguably before John Terry gets back from Dubai (where he’s been ‘talking’ to his wife) and definitely before the friendly versus Egypt.

The main reason: I would hope that ourÂ forthcoming opponentsÂ have too much class to start making comments aboutÂ the ‘situation’ between Terry and BridgeÂ on the pitch – but all you need isÂ a Marco Materazzi and Zinedine Zidane style incident and England could be on the next plane home.

Let’s just hope that no-one else gets crocked.

In other news…Sven-Goran Eriksson’s rather bizarre sojourn as Director of Football at Notts Countyis over after Notts were sold for Â£1. If some of the rumours flying around are to be believed, he may be moving from the sublime to the ridiculous; apparently he may be in line for the North Korea job. Sounds likeÂ a job for Photoshop if ever there was one; on that note, we’ll wish you a pleasant weekend and leave you with a song (which contains some choice language right at the start, so be warned!)Â that seems appropriate on a number of levels…